President's Message

Dear SRS members,

It has been a busy three months since we met in Chicago for the 47th Annual Meeting. I would like to take this opportunity to update you on the activities of your Presidential Line (PL), the Board of Directors (BOD) and the committees during this period, as well as inform you of some future plans.

We had the Cabinet Meeting on October 13th at Hilton O’Hare in Chicago, Illinois, USA. On the preceding day, we had two educational sessions for all attendees, one was about new educational opportunities in the light of our new CME accreditation and the other session was about creating a safe surgical environment. The learned lessons from these sessions will assist the corresponding CME Task Force in reaching their recommendations.

Treasurer's Report

Paul D. Sponseller, MD

In contrast to the economic situation for the United States and much of Europe, the finances of the Scoliosis Research Society continue to be healthy. Because of stewardship on both the income and the expense sides of the budget, the Society has the means to continue to maintain a healthy research agenda as well as to expand its educational offerings.

Awards & Scholarship Committee Update

Lawrence G. Haber
Awards & Scholarship Committee Chair

The Awards and Scholarship Committee has been active since the 47th Annual Meeting and Course. Recently the 2013 Travelling Fellows were selected. The applicant pool was impressive with many qualified candidates that would have been excellent representatives of our society. The selection process was difficult, but after much consideration we chose three extremely qualified individuals: Amer Samdani, MD from Philadelphia, PA, Pennsylvania; Firoz Miyanji, MD, FRCSC, from Vancouver, BC, Canada; and Vikas Patel, MD from Denver, Colorado, USA.

Education Committee Activities: Fall 2012

John R. Dimar, II, MD
Education Chair

The Education Committee, in combination with the CME Committee, has been reviewing the feedback from the 47th Annual Meeting & Course in Chicago, Illinois, USA to identify potential educational needs of the Society’s membership. From these comments, we have done a basic gap analysis and have sent out an educational survey to all committee members to confirm these needs while concurrently working on potential Pre-Meeting Course curriculum for the upcoming 48th Annual Meeting & Course in Lyon, France.

The E-Text Goes Mobile

Praveen Mummaneni, MD
E-Text Committee Chair

The SRS E-Text is now available online through the website. This electronic textbook is now free of charge to both SRS members and nonmembers as a "go anywhere, anytime" online resource covering a broad array of spinal deformity topics.

Fellowship Committee Report

Laurel Blakemore, MD
Fellowship Committee Chair

The Fellowship Committee reviews all Candidate, Associate and Active applications for SRS membership, providing recommendations to the Board of Directors for final approval at the September and February/March Board meetings. The committee also participates in interpretation of membership policies and procedures as outlined in the SRS.

Historian's Corner: the SRS Archives at the University of Kansas Medical Center

Behrooz A. Akbarnia, MD
Historian

The SRS Archives – A Historical Collection at the University of Kansas Medical CenterOur society is fortunate enough to have established an endowment fund to support the SRS archives at KUMC. We are now able to store, not only the important documents, but also historical articles for future generations. Below is the description of the archives and how the SRS fellowship can use, as well as.

Long Range Planning Committee

B. Stephens Richards, III, MD
Long Range Planning Committee Chair

The future Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) Annual Meeting sites that have previously been selected are Lyon, France (2013); Anchorage, Alaska, USA (2014); and Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA (2015). Minneapolis will be the host of our special 50th Anniversary of the SRS Annual Meeting.

Non-Operative Management Committee Update

Michael C. Ain, MD
Committee Chair

The Non-Operative Management Committee has been very active during the start of the 2013 committee year. The committee members have been working intently to update the SRS Bracing Manual which is available on the SRS website for open use. Most recently, the committee has turned its focus to specifically updating the section on European Bracing.

The Initiative to Develop New CPT Codes for VEPTR and Growing Rod Procedures

R. Dale Blasier, MD
Coding Committee Chair

Many surgeons are performing procedures on the growing spine for Early Onset Scoliosis across the country, which includes VEPTR and growing rod procedures. These procedures, although mature and well-established, do not have their own CPT descriptors. As a result, surgeons have had to choose from existing codes which do not well-describe what is actually done during these procedures.

Orthopaedic surgeons make ethical decisions every day, often without a great deal of deliberation. The vast majority are straight forward, consistent with good patient care and occur because of common sense and appropriate judgment. The actions of individual members of professional societies, such as the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS) reflect on the society and every other member in the society.

2011 Corporate Supporters

We are pleased to acknowledge and thank those companies that provided financial support to SRS in 2010. Support levels are based on total contributions throughout the year and include the Annual Meeting, IMAST, Worldwide Conferences, Global Outreach Scholarships, Edgar Dawson Memorial Scholarships, SRS Traveling Fellowships and the Research Endowment Fund. Their support has helped SRS to offer high quality medical meetings and courses throughout the world, fund spinal deformity research, develop new patient materials, and provide educational opportunities for young surgeons and those from developing nations.